About Us

History

The history of Epperson goes back to the 1950s, when Grant County resident Hade Epperson started collecting trash in his 1947 Chevrolet dump truck. In those days, not many people needed trash collection. Citizens burned their trash in a barrel in the backyard or, worse, sometimes hauled it to a roadside dump. But as Williamstown began to grow in the 1950s, Hade discovered there was a need for garbage collection and decided to start a business.

Many of Hade's first customers were in the City of Williamstown. After he dumped the old steel garbage cans which had been set out on the sidewalk by a resident or business owner, Hade would pull out his broom and sweep the sidewalk clean. Sometimes, his 12 or 13 year old son, Freddie, would help him clean up.

In 1968, when Freddie was 26, his father started the landfill in its current location. Freddie had been working for a trucking company but went to work for his father that year. In 1978, Hade Epperson died, and Freddie took over Epperson Waste Disposal.

Freddie managed the business over the next 10-12 years. The landfill grew to about 10 acres and the two packer trucks (and a third spare truck) that Freddie used to collect waste could bring in as much as 20 tons in a day.

Then in 1990, The Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet proposed new laws that would forever change the way waste is disposed of. Following the lead of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Kentucky passed regulations and statutes in 1991 that required advanced liners and other environmental enhancements to landfills. The cost to build just one acre of landfill space soared to $150,000.

Freddie had two choices: Either close the landfill and leave the County without a disposal facility, or bring on a partner with the financial resources to comply with the stringent new laws.

Freddie reached an agreement with Lexington-based Addington Environmental. Freddie would remain a key figure with the company but Addington would provide the financial resources to pay for environmental enhancements to the landfill, and would own the facility. In the early 1990s, tens of millions of dollars were spent upgrading the facility.

As a result of the new environmental laws, 50 of Kentucky's 75 landfills were forced to close their gates. Epperson's facility in Grant County was one of the survivors. In 1996, in a continuation of the consolidation that has taken place in the waste industry, Addington Environmental merged into Republic Services, Inc., now the third largest waste company in the nation.

Today, Grant County still has its landfill, which is now a regional facility, and Freddie Epperson is still an important member of the team, working just as hard as he always has.